Have you at any point had to struggle so hard to get something done on time? “I will do it tomorrow”, you would say. Days after tomorrow, those tasks are still left undone. Yes, I have found myself in that situation too. That is procrastination, and it’s a bad habit that you need to nip in the bud.
Procrastination and laziness are related in a way — the latter is worse while the former is no good, too. It is an act of delaying the execution of important tasks because they are tougher, uninteresting, or are determiners of your measure of success hence you avoid them because of fear you may fail. On the other hand, laziness is a higher level of procrastination. A lazy person doesn’t want to lift a muscle to get anything done let alone postpone the execution of tasks – it is an unwillingness to act.
Dangers of Procrastination at Work
There are many dangers associated to procrastination at work. Whether you work for an employer or own your business, procrastination can expose you to many dangers that are inimical to your overall success. It can undermine your career.
Time is of essence when it comes to business; some tasks are time-bound and failure to carry them out and deliver same within the stipulated time can spell doom for the overall performance of the company. Do not be the weak link in your organization or the reason tasks are not carried out as and when due.
A team member’s inactiveness can render the efforts of other active members useless – do not be that team member. This in turn means you will be held responsible for any unsavoury development that may occur because of gaps traced to you. Your career is being threatened should you be found culpable. Procrastination frustrates teamwork; it can demotivate co-workers and can lead to depression and job loss.
How to Fight Procrastination
The first step to take in fighting procrastination is to accept and acknowledge the fact that you do it and it is not good for you. This will help your subconscious mind that something is going on with you that is not meant to continue.
Having recognised the fact that you do not get things done, the next important thing is to find out why you don’t get things done in time. Could it be that you shy away from hard tasks and rather choose to do the simple ones? Or is it that you find some pending tasks unappealing to you? Make effort to pen possible reasons down and come to terms with facts on why you leave things undone.
You must make a deliberate decision to fight procrastination head-on or else, it will continue to dictate the pace of your progress and this would have adverse effect on the progress of your colleagues at work thereby shunting productivity in the organisation. So, it’s wise to take proactive steps to prevent it.
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